Victims of Love
by iknz
Summary: When a stranger to George and Nina anyway arrives on the door step a plan is made to rescue Annie.
1. Chapter 1

Over the past few weeks, Mitchell had been acting strangely. I mean, I've seen him strange, but this is different. This isn't giddy happy, hell no, but it isn't blood drunk or frighteningly angry. He is just so _quiet._ A few minutes ago I told him the real hustle was on. He didn't reply.

I went through to the lounge and sat next to Nina on the sofa. She was where Mitchell should be.

Of course, I _do _know what's wrong. Annie. We're all upset. But we _are _going to get her back… We just don't know _how _yet. But we are.

I feel guilty, of course I do. I wanted to help her, but I couldn't. I know Mitchell scared her, the last time he ever saw her, but neither of them ever told me what he said. I tried to help. Tried to make him feel a bit better. Nothing works.

Until we know how to get her back, what else can I do?

I can tell Nina knows what I'm thinking about. She always can tell. I'm not focused on the real hustle. She is only watching it for me.

A knock at the door pulls me away from my thoughts. I look over at Nina who raises her eyebrows at me. With a sigh I go to answer the door.

I am not surprised by who is there. I've seen far stranger things. Far stranger people. It's just not what I'm expecting to see, that's all.

The man standing before me is tall, but not overly. He has dark brown, wild hair (not as wild as Mitchell's mind). His eyes were a pure blue colour, watery, and instantly trustworthy.

What was most odd though, was his outfit. He was wearing perfectly normal shirt and trousers, but it was what he wore with this that was strange. Over his shirt he wore a dark blue RAF coat accompanied by brown military boots.

"Hi, I'm here to see a Mr. John Mitchell. Is he in?"

"What? Oh, sorry, yes he's in. I'll just go and get him."

I didn't invite him in. It was too far from the full moon for me to really tell if he was a vampire. I intended to wait until Mitchell said so to invite him in. If he said anything.

I called up the stairs to Mitchell and quickly went back to Nina before he came down.

"Who was it?" she mouthed at me.

"I dunno. Some weirdo friend of Mitchell's" I whispered back.

"Aren't all his mates weird?"

"Oi! That's not fair!"

"I didn't mean you stupid!"

At the door, Mitchell cleared his throat. We both turned to him guiltily. To our surprise, he stood there with his friend, smiling. Grinning even.

"Guys, this is Jack Harkness. I worked for him once."

"_Captain _Jack Harkness" he corrected.

"_Sorry. Captain _Jack Harkness. He might be staying for a while.

"When did you say you worked for him? You've never mentioned him before." I asked.

"Never mentioned me!" Jack muttered jokingly. "Unbelievable!"

"About 40 years ago" Mitchell replied, ignoring Jack. He made to walk away, but Nina stopped him.

"40 years?" she asked. "That's not possible. He wouldn't have been old enough, surely?"

"Is he a… you know…?" I stuttered. I had known Mitchell for about 3 years now, but I still didn't like using the word. As well as that, Nina was new to this life and she was still getting used to it.

"A vampire?" Mitchell confirmed. I nodded slowly. "No, he's not."

"I'm something different." He interjected.

"Oh yeah? What's that then? We've had vampire, werewolf and ghost. So, what does that leave you with? What else is there?" I was rude to him. I know I shouldn't have been. I didn't know him. That wasn't how I'd been bought up to be like. He didn't seem to notice my rudeness. If anything, he enjoyed it.

"There's me." He said with a grin.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to be rude. Its just…..

Before I could continue, Mitchell cut me off. He had obviously become bored with the conversation, as Mitchell often did.

"Oh, shush George! Come here, we've got something we need to do!" He said, grabbing my arm and dragging me into the kitchen.

Nina and Jack followed us in. Nina looked as confused as me, but as usual, Jack was just grinning.

"Alright," Mitchell started. "Nina, George, I need you to do exactly as I say, ok?"

"Why?" I asked. "What are we doing?"

"Questions later. Ok, Nina, what I need you to do is stop the bleeding-"Nina opened her mouth to ask a question, but Mitchell left no time for that. "- and George, you have to hold on to the door until we come out. The last thing we want is the door disappearing. Ok, Jack, come over here."

"Wait Mitchell! Stop! What door?" I asked

"The door into death." He replied simply, as if it were the most stupid question ever.

When Jack was at Mitchell's side, Mitchell gestured at the holster at Jack's waist.

Mitchell looked shocked when Jack shook his head.

"But we need the gun!" Mitchell complained.

Jack didn't answer. He simply reached into his bag discarded on the floor beside him, and pulled out another gun and holster, similar to his own.

He held it out to Mitchell, who looked gobsmacked. Slowly he reached out to take it from Jack.

"Its my gun! Oh, thank you Jack!" He cried.

"We had better be getting on with the matter at hand." Said Jack seriously. He was grinning too though.

We waited a minute for Mitchell to fit the holster and find the gun already loaded. I glanced at Nina to see that she was thinking what I was. Mitchell was planning to use the gun.

"Mitchell wait," I said. "Your not going to _use _that are you?"

Even as I said this, Mitchell was raising the pistol. To my surprise and horror, he was pointing it at Jack.

"Mitchell, what do you thi-"Nina started.

She was cut off by a single gunshot.


	2. Chapter 2

I've been shot before, hundreds of times. It never gets any less painful though. I can feel everything that is happening, as the bullet forced its way through my head. I am unconscious for it all, of course. I say unconscious, I am unable to move or do anything, but I can still _feel _what is happening.

I can feel what is happening physically, but mentally too. I can feel Death pulling at me, equalled by my eternal life.

I can remember what was going on. What I was about to do with Mitchell.

Go into Death.

We both have reasons for going. They are similar reasons too. We have both lost someone we love. I lost Ianto, my lover. Mitchell lost Annie, his friend. His mates still think it is just that. Friendship. I can see that it is more than that. He loves her. We are both the victims of love.

Now I can feel the familiar feeling of life pulling me back.

Slowly I open my eyes. The light in the kitchen is bright, the colours too intense. Its always like that. Carefully I lift my head. I can see Mitchell holding the chilling handle of Death's door. George was standing behind Mitchell, waiting until we went to hold the door. I can hear Mitchell telling him not to look beyond it.

And then there was Nina. The nurse. She had stopped the bleeding, although it wasn't entirely her. She was looking at me now, shocked. She let out a small scream, and then covered her mouth. As a nurse, she would have taken my pulse, I was dead, and now I was simply sitting up.

Across the room, Mitchell stopped his lecture to George about not looking beyond the door. As he look over at me, his face remained still. The same, however, could not be said for George. But unlike his girlfriend, he stifled his scream. It would have been just as girly.

Mitchell walked over to me and held out his hand. I took it and stood up. George and Nina seemed to back away from me. I flashed them a quick grin, and turned back to Mitchell.

"You ready?" He asked me. I nodded and walked over to the door.

I pulled the door open , careful to make sure that George and Nina couldn't see beyond it.

Slowly, me and Mitchell entered Death. 


	3. Chapter 3

**I am sorry about how long it took to write this up. There is no excuse. Except that I finished it and my computer decided to shut down, taking the unsaved work with it. Hope you like this chapter.**

I know its a cliché, but Death was cold. And dark.

All that is there is a long corridor, lined with doors. This was going to be harder that we had thought.

Tentatively, we took a step forwards. Nothing happened. Slowly we continued.

It had been over 100 years since I had last been here. The guards had thrown me out in less than an hour. When I woke up, I had been asleep for days. Time worked differently here.

The guards. Annie had called them the men with ropes and sticks. She was frightened of them. I hated the thought of her here, alone with them. I felt like I should have been there to protect her. But I wasn't. I was too caught up in my own problems to notice how alone she felt. _My problems _seemed so insignificant now.

I looked over at Jack to find that he didn't look half as worried about who we would find here, other than those we were searching for. But I suppose that he had only seen this world in flashes.

Not like me or Annie.

A small distance from us, I could see a movement in the corridor. It looked like somebody was trying to get through. Or something.

To my horror, Jack seemed excited about this, and moved towards it. Desperately I grabbed out at his coat to pull him back. I just got a hold before he could move further away.

Before I could warn him about the guards, the strained door gave way, revealing to figures. I didn't recognise the first, a man, but the woman behind him I knew instantly.

It was Annie.

Jack saw them when I did, and he seemed just as keen to reach them. As we both leapt forwards, I could see that Annie, and the man, were on the verge of consciousness.

I managed to get to her in time, so I could hold her while she passed out, exhausted. Her face was even more beautiful than I remembered, even after weeks in Death.

I looked over at Jack to find that he was holding the man in much the same way. A flicker of understanding passed between us. We had both found what we were looking for.

I thought that our unconscious friends might be a burden, but I was wrong. Even as a ghost, Annie had not been _that _light. It would be no trouble getting them back.

Again, I was wrong. I should have known that the guards wouldn't just let us take them. I realised this as me and Jack made to walk on carrying the unconscious Annie and Ianto. Before we took our first step, the guards appeared, some way behind us.

As quickly as we could, we ran down the corridor. Unlike the last time I was here, it took a reasonable amount of time to get down. Last time it had been longer than it had seemed.

I arrived at the door before Jack because I had run first. They were not getting Annie back after all this. I pulled it open sharply, totally forgetting what I had previously said to George and Nina.

As I stumbled through startled eyes turned to me. I didn't notice. Nor did I notice a cry from behind me followed by the door slamming. All I cared about was Annie.

I almost fell into the living room, but I placed Annie down on the sofa carefully. I leaned against the wall beside her and realised just how much I had missed her. I slid down the wall and fell into my first proper sleep since she went.


End file.
